Unemployment Benefit Claims Reach 237,000, Surpassing Expectations
Last week, the number of new unemployment claims in the United States exceeded market expectations, reaching the highest level in over two months.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor on September 4 (local time), the number of new unemployment claims for the week of August 24 to 30 was 237,000. This figure is an increase of 8,000 from the previous week’s 229,000 and also surpasses Bloomberg’s forecast of 230,000. It is also the highest level since June.
The number of continuing unemployment claims for the week of August 17 to 23 stood at 1.94 million, maintaining a similar level to the previous week’s 1.944 million. This was below the market forecast of 1.96 million.
Wall Street is closely monitoring labor market and inflation indicators to assess the overall impact of President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff policies on the economy. In this context, a series of indicators have shown that companies are increasing layoffs and adopting a more cautious approach to hiring.
According to employment information provider Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the number of layoffs in August surged by 39% from the previous month to 85,979. This is the highest figure for August since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. So far this year, the number of jobs cut by companies has reached 892,362, also the highest since 2020.
On the other hand, the number of new hires announced by companies in August was only 1,494, marking the lowest level since 2009. With both layoffs and hiring slowdowns occurring simultaneously, the cooling trend in the labor market is becoming increasingly evident.
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